Digital library
Textbooks, references and open learning resources.
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Rules and Laws for Civil Actions
Stella Elias; Derek Muller; Jason Rantanen · University of Iowa · 2022
Rules and Laws for Civil Actions is an open-access resource for law students containing the U.S. Constitution, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Federal Rules of Evidence, Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, and selected federal and state statutes. The book was created by a team of faculty members at the University of Iowa College of Law to supplement the study of Civil Procedure, Evidence, Constitutional Law, and other law school courses. In addition to containing the official text, each legal source found in Rules and Laws for Civil Actions is accompanied by an introductory section written by an Iowa Law professor explaining its significance and background.
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American Government and Politics in the Information Age
University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing · 2016
This text is a comprehensive introduction to the vital subject of American government and politics. Governments decide who gets what, when, how (See Harold D. Lasswell, Politics: Who Gets What, When, How, [New York: McGraw-Hill, 1936]); they make policies and pass laws that are binding on all a society's members; they decide about taxation and spending, benefits and costs, even life and death. Governments possess power—the ability to gain compliance and to get people under their jurisdiction to obey them—and they may exercise their power by using the police and military to enforce their decisions. However, power need not involve the exercise of force or compulsion; people often obey because they think it is in their interest to do so, they have no reason to disobey, or they fear punishment. Above all, people obey their government because it has authority; its power is seen by people as rightfully held, as legitimate. People can grant their government legitimacy because they have been socialized to do so; because there are processes, such as elections, that enable them to choose and change their rulers; and because they believe that their governing institutions operate justly. Politics is the process by which leaders are selected and policy decisions are made and executed. It involves people and groups, both inside and outside of government, engaged in deliberation and debate, disagreement and conflict, cooperation and consensus, and power struggles. In covering American government and politics, our text introduces the intricacies of the Constitution, the complexities of federalism, the meanings of civil liberties, and the conflicts over civil rights;explains how people are socialized to politics, acquire and express opinions, and participate in political life; describes interest groups, political parties, and elections—the intermediaries that link people to government and politics; details the branches of government and how they operate; and shows how policies are m
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Tort Law: Cases and Commentaries
Samuel Beswick · CanLII: Canadian Legal Information Institute · 2021
The law of obligations concerns the legal rights and duties owed between people. Three primary categories make up the common law of obligations: tort, contract, and unjust enrichment. This casebook provides an introduction to tort law: the law that recognises and responds to civil wrongdoing. The material is arranged in two parts. Part I comprises §§1-11 and addresses intentional and dignitary torts and the overarching theories and goals of tort law. Part II comprises §§12-25 and addresses no-fault compensation schemes, negligence, nuisance, strict liability, and tort law’s place within our broader legal systems. This casebook was compiled and edited by Assistant Professor Samuel Beswick of the University of British Columbia Peter A. Allard School of Law. Maddison Zapach (J.D. expected 2023) provided research assistance on the first edition (published July 2021). We gratefully acknowledge the influence on our approach to this subject of Professor Joost Blom QC of the Allard School of Law, Professor John C.P. Goldberg of Harvard Law School, and Associate Professor Rosemary Tobin of the University of Auckland Faculty of Law. The support of Open UBC and the UBC Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund is also gratefully acknowledged.
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Civil Rights and Liberties
Rorie Solberg; Kimberly Clairmont; Petar Jeknic; Sarah Mason · Open Oregon Educational Resources · 2023
This volume focuses on the constitutional doctrine and law in the areas of civil rights and liberties. It contains excerpts of landmark cases covering the first amendment, second amendment, fourteenth amendment and the right to privacy. The excerpts include the constitutional issues in these cases that are related to civil rights and liberties with other questions of law and dicta omitted.
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Religion in the Law: An Open Access Casebook
Joe Dunman · L. Joe Dunman · 2026
This casebook features over 70 cases from American courts that involve, in some important way, religious belief and action. The book is divided into sections: First Principles, Establishment, Free Exercise, and Special Problems. Each section includes landmark or otherwise influential cases that have influenced American law and religious practice. Most cases come from the U.S. Supreme Court but the lower federal and state courts are also represented.In the contextual introductions to each section and subpart, I have tried to give the reader a basis for understanding how the cases came about and why I chose them for this book. I have tried to minimize editorial comment. I have cited some scholarship where I think it would be helpful, but please do not mistake this as an attempt to produce a comprehensive treatise on the subject of religion in the law. It is a casebook, and a short one, all things considered. At the end of each introductory part is a short “further reading” list. I chose those articles because I found each of them interesting and useful to understanding the topics that precede them. Their selection is not necessarily an endorsement of each author’s arguments, though I do agree with some of them.I designed this casebook specifically for my own use upper level law school seminar called Law & Religion. Class sessions using this book are intended to be student-led, round table talks with the professor acting as discussion prompter and neutral mediator. Generally, 2-5 cases are assigned for each class session. I selected, edited, and arranged the cases to complement each other thematically and chronologically to the best of my ability. Many of the cases include overlapping topics and could fit into multiple categories, so I took some liberties in their arrangement. Your mileage may vary.
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Open-Source Property: A Free Casebook
Stephen Clowney; James Grimmelmann; Michael Grynberg · Open Source Property · 2015
Open Source Property: A Free Casebook is a free resource for instructors and students of the first-year Property Law course at American law schools, and anyone else with an interest in the subject.
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Fundamentals of Business Law
Melissa Randall; Community College of Denver Students · Melissa Randall · 2020
Undergraduate business law textbook written by Melissa Randall and Community College of Denver Students in collaboration with lawyers and business professionals for use in required 200 level business law courses in the United States. This book is an introductory survey of the legal topics required in undergraduate business law classes.
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Business Law I Essentials
Mirande Valbrune; Renee De Assis; Suzanne Cardell · OpenStax · 2026
Business Law I Essentials 2e is a brief introductory textbook designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of courses on Business Law or the Legal Environment of Business. The concepts are presented in a streamlined manner, and cover the key concepts necessary to establish a strong foundation in the subject. The textbook follows a traditional approach to the study of business law. Each chapter contains learning objectives, explanatory narrative and concepts, references for further reading, and end-of-chapter questions. Business Law I Essentials 2e may need to be supplemented with additional content, cases, or related materials, and is offered as a foundational resource that focuses on the baseline concepts, issues, and approaches.
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Law 101: Fundamentals of the Law
Michael Martella · Open SUNY · 2018
Law 101: Fundamentals of Law, New York and Federal Law is an attempt to provide basic legal concepts of the law to undergraduates in easily understood plain English. Each chapter covers a different area of the law. Areas of law were selected based on what legal matters undergraduates may typically encounter in their daily lives. The textbook is introductory by nature and not meant as a legal treatise.Facebook
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Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Employment Discrimination
Matthew Green · CALI's eLangdell® Press · 2017
This Chapter will address the current protections that are available to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (“LGBT”) individuals who allege they have been victims of employment discrimination. The Chapter's primary focus will be on federal statutory law, particularly Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Although the focus here is on federal law, Appendix I to this Chapter lists the states that protect individuals from public and/or private discrimination under state laws. This topic is explored in four parts: (1) a brief overview of congressional efforts to enact a statute to protect individuals from employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity; (2) discusses Title VII and sexual orientation; (3) discusses ways in which recent courts have handled sexual orientation discrimination under Title VII; and (4) similarly examines early judicial treatment of claims brought by individuals alleging discrimination on the basis of their gender identity and/or expression and explores how the law has developed in this area as well.
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Intellectual Property: Law & the Information Society—Cases and Materials
James Boyle; Jennifer Jenkins · James Boyle, Jennifer Jenkins · 2016
This book is an introduction to intellectual property law, the set of private legal rights that allows individuals and corporations to control intangible creations and marks—from logos to novels to drug formulae—and the exceptions and limitations that define those rights. It focuses on the three graphmain forms of US federal intellectual property—trademark, copyright and patent—but many of the ideas discussed here apply far beyond those legal areas and far beyond the law of the United States. The book is intended to be a textbook for the basic Intellectual Property class, but because it is an open coursebook, which can be freely edited and customized, it is also suitable for an undergraduate class, or for a business, library studies, communications or other graduate school class. Each chapter contains cases and secondary readings and a set of problems or role-playing exercises involving the material. The problems range from a video of the Napster oral argument to counseling clients about search engines and trademarks, applying the First Amendment to digital rights management and copyright or commenting on the Supreme Court's rulings on gene patents.
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Torts: Cases and Contexts
Eric Johnson · CALI's eLangdell® Press · 2016
Plain-spoken and convivial, this casebook makes a deliberate effort to explain the law, rather than to provide a mere compilation of readings and questions. Simple concepts are presented simply. Complex concepts are broken down and accompanied by examples and problems. By being clear and straightforward, the casebook aims to quickly get students to the point where they can navigate regions of gray and build nuanced arguments. The book is written from the conviction that when students stop to puzzle over something, it should be because the law itself puzzles, not because the book obfuscates. Students describe the book as easy to read. A key aim is context, with explanations of how pieces of doctrine fit into the bigger picture. There is also a continual effort to plug doctrine into the real world of practice, getting students to think about litigation strategy and tactics. Another key feature is a high-degree of organization. Doctrine is explained upfront, independent of and before the cases. After the cases, there is no notes-and-questions mishmash. Historical notes, check-your-understanding questions, questions to ponder, and problems are all separately labeled as such. The readings are rich with variety. The classic cases are here, of course. But there are also atypical readings that allow students to see tort law from different perspectives, including an opening statement, a closing argument, administrative-enforcement letters, an excerpt from a novel, and an opinion on tribal law from a Navajo court. Many selections are also startlingly modern, with facts involving texting-and-driving, alcoholic energy drinks, Facebook libel, suddenly accelerating Toyotas, and the misery of a six-hour tarmac delay. Please note that the publisher requires you to login to access and download the textbooks.
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Torts: Cases and Contexts
Eric Johnson · CALI's eLangdell® Press · 2016
Plain-spoken and convivial, this casebook makes a deliberate effort to explain the law, rather than to provide a mere compilation of readings and questions. Simple concepts are presented simply. Complex concepts are broken down and accompanied by examples and problems. By being clear and straightforward, the casebook aims to quickly get students to the point where they can navigate regions of gray and build nuanced arguments. The book is written from the conviction that when students stop to puzzle over something, it should be because the law itself puzzles, not because the book obfuscates. Students describe the book as easy to read. A key aim is context, with explanations of how pieces of doctrine fit into the bigger picture. There is also a continual effort to plug doctrine into the real world of practice, getting students to think about litigation strategy and tactics. Another key feature is a high-degree of organization. Doctrine is explained upfront, independent of and before the cases. After the cases, there is no notes-and-questions mishmash. Historical notes, check-your-understanding questions, questions to ponder, and problems are all separately labeled as such. The readings are rich with variety. The classic cases are here, of course. But there are also atypical readings that allow students to see tort law from different perspectives, including an opening statement, a closing argument, administrative-enforcement letters, an excerpt from a novel, and an opinion on tribal law from a Navajo court. Many selections are also startlingly modern, with facts involving texting-and-driving, alcoholic energy drinks, Facebook libel, suddenly accelerating Toyotas, and the misery of a six-hour tarmac delay.
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Torts: Cases, Principles, and Institutions
John Witt · CALI's eLangdell® Press · 2022
This is the Fifth Edition of Torts: Cases, Principles, and Institutions, a casebook for a one-semester torts course that carves out a distinctive niche in the field by focusing on the institutions and sociology of American tort law. The book retains many of the familiar features of the traditional casebook, including many of the classic cases. Like the best casebooks, it seeks to survey the theoretical principles underlying those cases. But it aims to supplement the cases and principles with editorial notes that focus students’ attention on the institutional features of our tort system, including features such as the pervasiveness of settlements, the significance of the market, the role of the plaintiff's bar, the importance of private insurance, the contingency fee, and the jury. These institutional arrangements are what make American tort law distinctive. They are how the substantive doctrines of tort law are translated into the practice of torts lawyers. And they are sociologically fascinating in their own right. TCPI integrates the institutional materials into the cases and notes rather than segregate them into separate sections of their own. It does so because its aim is not to teach the details of any one institution, such as the mechanics of the law of subrogation or workers’ compensation. Few one-semester torts classes can take up so much material. Instead, the book integrates the institutional material into the main text to draw general lessons about the massive, sprawling systems of private administration that American law has created under the umbrella of our torts system.
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Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Legal Information Institute · CALI's eLangdell® Press · 2016
Civil procedure consists of the rules by which courts conduct civil trials. In the U.S., civil procedure usually takes the form of a series of rules and judicial practices. The federal courts follow the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. This series of Federal Rules books, consisting of the Federal Rules of Evidence, Criminal Procedure and Civil Procedure, are powered by the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School, and created in partnership with The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI). You may download the books for free, but remember that publishing these books is not free for our organizations. These rules govern the conduct of all criminal proceedings brought in Federal courts. Our Federal Rules ebooks include: The complete rules as of December 1, 2014 (for the 2015 edition). All notes of the Advisory Committee following each rule. Internal links to rules referenced within the rules. External links to the LII website's version of the US Code.
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Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure
Legal Information Institute · CALI's eLangdell® Press · 2014
This series of Federal Rules books, consisting of the Federal Rules of Evidence, Criminal Procedure and Civil Procedure, are powered by the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School, and created in partnership with The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI).These rules govern the conduct of all criminal proceedings brought in Federal courts. Our Federal Rules ebooks include: The complete rules as of December 1, 2012 (for the 2013 edition). All notes of the Advisory Committee following each rule. Internal links to rules referenced within the rules. External links to the LII website's version of the US Code.
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Federal Rules of Evidence
Legal Information Institute · CALI's eLangdell® Press · 2016
Rules of evidence are, as the name indicates, the rules by which a court determines what evidence is admissible at trial. In the U.S., federal courts follow the Federal Rules of Evidence. This series of Federal Rules books, consisting of the Federal Rules of Evidence, Criminal Procedure and Civil Procedure, are powered by the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School, and created in partnership with The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI). You may download the books for free, but remember that publishing these books is not free for our organizations. Our Federal Rules ebooks include: The complete rules as of December 1, 2014 (for the 2015 edition). All notes of the Advisory Committee following each rule. Internal links to rules referenced within the rules. External links to the LII website's version of the US Code.
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Civil Procedure: Pleading
Hillel Levin · CALI's eLangdell® Press · 2014
This chapter covers the Civil Procedure topic of Pleading: The Plaintiff‘s Complaint. The chapter takes approximately four class periods to cover in detail. The student is exposed to cases, presented with questions that are designed to both guide class discussion and to help the student focus his reading of the materials, pleadings from cases, and the applicable Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Faculty materials available: This eLangdell chapter includes a teacher's manual. Faculty and staff at CALI member schools can access these faculty-only materials by logging in to eLangdell with their normal cali.org username and password. Contact CALI if you have questions. This chapter covers the Civil Procedure topic of Pleading: The Plaintiff's Complaint. The chapter takes approximately four class periods to cover in detail. The student is exposed to cases, presented with questions that are designed to both guide class discussion and to help the student focus his reading of the materials, pleadings from cases, and the applicable Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. There are two accompanying files available only to faculty who are registered at cali.org (registration is free for faculty at CALI member schools): a Teaching Manual and a Supplemental Material document. The Supplemental Material should be distributed to students at the appropriate point in the unit. Please see the Teaching Manual for details.
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Computer-Aided Exercises in Civil Procedure
Roger Park; Douglas McFarland · CALI's eLangdell® Press · 2014
The sixth edition, first published as an ebook, and this seventh edition carry forward the philosophy and structure of the earlier editions. This book is not a comprehensive treatise on the subject of civil procedure, yet it provides a mixture of expository text, cases, and self-testing questions in nearly all of the major areas of the subject. In order to maximize accessibility, flexibility, and compatibility of the book, the authors have chosen CALI's eLangdell Press to publish and distribute the sixth edition (as chapters) and this revised seventh (as a complete book) electronically with a Creative Commons license. Publishing a law textbook electronically with far fewer restrictions than most commercial books and using a somewhat new, boutique outfit such as eLangdell Press is an unconventional choice, to say the least. But the authors share the eLangdell vision of more flexible teaching materials for professors and more cost-effective books for students. Professors may now edit and remix this work to match their teaching without worry of copyright infringement. Students may now adopt this book, read it using any number of software or devices, and even print it - all for free. The book's authors, like its publishers, believe that this new book model represents an important and long overdue step forward in the way law school books are published. All the exercises have been substantially revised for this edition. The individual exercises also are reorganized and expanded so that they follow a more standardized pattern: expository text on the topic area, work-book questions, and introduction to the related online CALI lessons. This book, and the accompanying interactive exercises known as CALI Lessons available online through the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) at www.cali.org, are intended to provide a challenging educational experience. For each exercise, students should read the text in this book and answer the questions before accessing the
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Business Law, Ethics, and Sustainability
Andrew Hosmanek; Brendan Smith; Michael Dayton · OpenHawks OER · 2023
Business Law, Ethics, and Sustainability is a textbook for undergraduate law courses. It covers business law topics such as contracts, business organizations, employment law, and torts, as well as a general survey of American law. Additional topics include Constitutional law, civil rights, environmental law, criminal law, and litigation.